


Of course, what else would he be?

by Chris_Hood



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Punk!12, The Doctor is queer, ThoscheiLockdown2020, no beta we die like fish people that hate wednesday lectures, punk twelfth doctor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23321263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chris_Hood/pseuds/Chris_Hood
Summary: "Its Wednesday" he states "Lecture day""I thought you gave those on Thursday?""Ah, well, there was this thing with a bunch of students who turned into fishes and rebelled against Wednesday lectures, apparently it was against their culture, so the administration changed it" And he says it so convincingly that she's tempted to believe it"What? Really?""No." And his lips twitch as if he wants to smile "They just decided to change it one day"
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27
Collections: Thoschei Lockdown The First 2020





	Of course, what else would he be?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fusrohan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fusrohan/gifts).



Bill had been walking around in The Tardis, it was one of the odd days that the canteen was closed, but they hadn't told her this until she had arrived so she made her way up to The Doctors office. Of course he was around but he had a lecture to attend and Bill decided to stay back. He had invited her to stay in The Tardis, well, invite is a strong word, what he said basically amounted to 'Stay in the Tardis, don't wander off, I'll be back' and after an hour of playing on her phone she got pretty sick of sitting around in the main console. When she first boarded The Tardis she remembered The Doctor saying that there were bathrooms, which stood to reason that there are other rooms in this place. So she had left the console and walked into the first corridor she could find. He said don't wander off, but he also said don't leave The Tardis, maybe, she thinks, he should have worded that better. Because as she hesitated to go into one of the many rooms she had turned around to realize that the way she entered no longer existed. But how hard can it be to get lost in The Tardis, she thought naively, and continued to make her way down the corridor. The halls were lit with lights on the floors that would fluctuate between blue and white slowly, some corridors had no lights at all, and Bill ignored those ones. After a while of following the light pathways Bill got the sense that she was being led somewhere on purpose. She'd seen The Doctor talk to The Tardis when he thought no one was looking, and sometimes she thought maybe The Tardis was communicating back, but only in a way that he could understand. A low hum filled the hallway, as if the ship was agreeing with her, which she thought was only slightly creepy.

Eventually the pathway ended, and a large fancy medieval type door stood before her. It didn't have any handles but when she ran her hand along it, the door swung open inwards. As she stepped inside all the lights came on in a row, the room wasn't a room after all, or it was certainly a large one if it was. It was white and had marbled floors with spiral staircases leading upwards to another level a few feet in front of her. The walls were lined with bookcases and it curved around the staircases towards the far wall in which a pool could be seen. As curious as she was about the pool she decided to make her way up the stairs instead. Whatever she expected, probably more books, didn't prepare her for the experience of walking into an art gallery. Or at least it looked like one upon first glance. Bill walked over to look at the would be art pieces but she found that they were instead pictures. Some large, some small, but they spanned the whole upper floors walls. Her eyes roamed over the pictures, she recognized only some of the people, but most pictures were lost to her, though she found one with The Doctor and a woman with big hair who were holding drinks and smiling, a sunset behind them. She recognized her from the picture of her on the Doctors desk. He looked happy, she thought, and then, what happened to her? Turning around she realized that a door had appeared on the opposite wall. Now she was definitely being led somewhere, she thought as she made her way over to it.

Walking through the door, she expected to find more pictures, she wasn't expecting to walk face first into a large poofy dress. She swatted it out of the way and was met with a massive room, if one could call it that. It was probably big but on account of the fact that the whole room was covered ceiling to floor with clothes, it was rather hard to tell. There was a spiral staircase similar to the one in the other room (and honestly, what's up with all the spirals?) in the center of the room, and pathways leading around it to the various clothes strewn about. Looking around at the insane types of things hanging on the walls she had a hard time imagining the Doctor wearing any of these, except when her eyes landed on a black jacket with patches on it hanging closer to the ground. She reached out and took it off the wall, it was rough and had silver spikes sticking out of the shoulders, turning it over she read the patches, there was a large one with a swastika crossed through in the middle and surrounding it there were various LGBT patches that included sayings like 'protect trans kids' and 'the future is queer' she smiled, yeah, she could definitely see him wearing this.

A mirror popped out of the place where the jacket had been hung, almost as if to urge her to try it on. She hesitated before shrugging off her current jacket and putting his on. It surprisingly fit sort of well, and she twisted around in it to get a better look. Along the side there was writing that she couldn't get a really good look at but the largest lettering definitely had the letters 'acab' written there in permanent paint markers.

The door that she had walked through slid open and she turned around in surprise.

"Bill?" The Doctor asked into the room, Bill awkwardly leaned around the staircase to wave at him.

"Heya.." she said, he sighed in what seemed to be relief.

"Oh good" he said, then glared at the ceiling "I thought she'd swallowed you"

"Swallowed?" Bill shouts and looks at him in disbelief "That can happen?"

He waved his hand as to dismiss it "Only once, why are you wearing?" And The Doctor points to the jacket shes wearing. For some reason this causes her to blush and stammer

"I just- I saw it hanging up and-"

"Hm." He dismisses, cutting her off "I always wondered where she put that jacket, it was quite nice, I wore it for a long time. You can have it if you like" And Bill doesn't know how to respond to that other than

"You wore this?" 

"Yes, most of the things in here are mine, a few are things that others have…. left behind" and he trails off as his eyes roam over a pink sweater.

"Even that one?" She asks, and points towards a burgundy top that has a sort of rainbow pattern across the chest.

The Doctor squints his eyes as he looks at the thing she's pointing at "No. I don't know whos that is. Must be from my future, come on, you're late for your lesson" and he walks back through the door he came in by.

Bill stares at the top for a little while longer before sighing and following him through the door. Hes made his way back to the staircase and she jogs to catch up with him.

"Do you just have a habit of picking up LGBT people then?"

"Sorry?"

"The top, you said it's from your future, and it's a ladies top, so either it's yours or it's someone else's that will come on the ship" Bill looks proud of herself.

He looks at her before glancing away and speeding up in his walking, Bill laughs and matches his pace. "So that's a yes then?" She says and he glares at her with no real malice. Bill smiles wider.

Surprisingly the walk back to the console was faster than her walk, but she suspects that The Tardis just likes him more. She's reminded of him saying something along the lines of "I'm over 200 years old, I don't always want to take the stairs" except she's basically 100% sure that she didn't think that. Bill pat's the counter beside her and grins. The Tardis just called him old.

"Stop it" He says from the console "I can feel you two having a laugh, it's infuriating not knowing what you're saying"

"Welcome to the club mate" she says "I never know what you two are talking about" and she hops down from the seat to stand beside him.

"Are we going somewhere? I thought it was lesson time." She asks, watching him flick various switches that probably do absolutely nothing and are only there for the aesthetic.

He smiles his half smile and flicks one final switch dramatically, making the Tardis shake. She falls over and grasps onto the railing nearest to her to stabilize herself. When it finally settles, seemingly to have landed, he checks the screen and says something quietly to himself before walking out the door.

She shakes her head "men" she mumbles under her breath and follows him out the door.

She walks out onto the campus she's used to, but the building looks newer, and everyone is dressed wildly different. She feels slightly out of places among them for some strange reason.

"Where are we?" She asks The Doctor, who's crouching down and feeling along the grass.

"1990" he replies

"Same university though?" She asks and he nods as a reply.

"I've worked here for a long time. I used to wear a lot of suits, but for a short while, I wore jackets like that one" and he nods to the one that she's still wearing.

"Jackets…" Bill mumbles "Oh! My jacket! I totally left it in that room we were in!" She groans, smacking her forehead.

"I'm sure it'll turn up again"

"Yeah, sure, that's probably what happened to the rest of the clothes that aren't yours in that room" and he gives her a strange look that translates as half grief, half amusement before schooling the look and turning towards the university.

"Its Wednesday" he states "Lecture day"

"I thought you gave those on Thursday?"

"Ah, well, there was this thing with a bunch of students who turned into fishes and rebelled against Wednesday lectures, apparently it was against their culture, so the administration changed it" And he says it so convincingly that shes tempted to believe it

"What? Really?"

"No." And his lips twitch as if he wants to smile "They just decided to change it one day, come on" he motions forward and starts making his way into the university.

She walks alongside him as they travel through the university, they get a few odd looks but she notices that as they get closer to The Doctors office, and his lecture hall, the students look over the jacket and smile at her, she smiles back politely. As they near the lecture hall she can hear a familiar voice talking from inside and she stops in her tracks, it takes a few paces for him to realize that she's not beside him anymore and when he does he turns around, looking back for her.

"Bill?" He questions, and walks back to stand in front of her "What's wrong?"

"That's you."

"Who is?"

"You. In the lecture hall." And she listens as he starts talking about something to do with shoelaces.

"Yes. I thought you were curious about the jacket?" He asks, as if that clears anything up at all.

"What? I mean, yeah, but, that's you!"

"Bill you're just repeating yourself" and he sighs "I have a time machine, we're at the university in 1990, I've been working here for well over 80 years, did you think that there wouldn't be a past me here as well?"

"I just-" and she runs her hand over her face up into her hair "Aren't there like, rules? Like, what if we cause a paradox?" And she snaps her fingers as she says it.

"Well technically, we're already in a paradox considering that this has already happened."

"I-" and he looks at her, waiting for it to click, her brain starts to hurt but she says "You've already- seen us? Do this? Right?" She asks hesitantly.

He smiles, like hes secretly proud of her for figuring it out.

"Hang on, is that why you called me into your office? Because you saw me like 20 years ago in your lecture?" And for some reason that hurts.

His smile drops "No, I well, actually forgot about this happening until I saw you in the jacket. And then-" and he sighs "there are rules, and this is technically a paradox because I'm only bringing you here because I brought you here in the past, well, future, but my past, but also my future. It's all…" and he waves his hands before whispering something that sounds like "timey whimey" before turning back towards the lecture hall "We've already done this before, so let's do it again"

"It sort of sounds like you're saying that we don't really have a choice" Bill sighs but nods and walks to the doors to open them, he follows closely behind.

Bill keeps her head down as she walks in, grabbing a spot at the back, The Doctor has his back towards them as he's drawing on the blackboard. Somethings, she thinks, never change. He's wearing the exact jacket that she's wearing and she turns towards her Doctor who grimaces as he follows her eyes between her jacket and his. She raises an eyebrow at him and he looks like he's going to reply before his whole body freezes, she looks towards the front where the past doctor is teaching and she too freezes. The two Doctors look at each other, glaring in distaste. Some of the students turn halfway in their seats before past Doctor claps loudly, drawing their attention back to him.

"Red!" He shouts "Never wear red laces!" And it's only then that his eyes land on her. For some reason the first thought she has is 'he's wearing eyeliner, oh my god, he's wearing eyeliner' before 'he looks good in it, why did he stop?' He pauses for a few seconds in his speech before looking back at a clock on the wall and back at them before continuing on with his lecture about shoelaces and what they mean. Bill listens intently while also observing his outfit. Aside from the jacket and eyeliner, his hair is bigger than usual and he's wearing jeans with a yellow pattern on them and boots with pink laces. He looks like he belongs, she thinks, as she looks around the room and sees some people dressed in a similar way, but overall she gets the sense that the people attending his lectures are only there for him, not because they need to be. The lecture hall looks different than she remembers and as she's observing it she spots a tiny rainbow flag stuck on the ceiling, something that you wouldn't see if you weren't looking for it. Bill smiles as she turns to her Doctor who rolls his eyes and whispers a 'shut up' under his breath.

His lectures always felt like home, and no matter the hall he was in, it always felt safe, she realizes why now, as she looks around the room at all the young college students who sit with her, some are drawing, some are taking notes, and some are just sleeping but most are listening to him. It's because his lectures haven't really been about the subject he was teaching. Although she knows he does put a lot of work into making them interesting for those who come to listen, it's about people like her having a class where they can just relax and be themselves. He hardly ever hands out homework and he's never yelled at a student for sleeping while he's teaching, no, she thinks, he wouldn't, because this isn't a lecture hall, it's a safe place to come when the times get tough, when the world wants to bring you down for just existing. And she knows that's not what he brought her here to learn or see, but that's what she takes away from it.

Of course he's punk, she thinks, there isn't anything else she would expect him to be.

**Author's Note:**

> This is... a bit of a mess... but accept my humble offerings anyways.


End file.
